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Chocolate Orange Crinkles

Day 10: Chocolate Orange Crinkles

The 12 Days of Vegan Christmas Cookies

You’ve no doubt had chocolate crinkles before. Every Christmas they make their way onto cookie platters. They’re so cute and festive with their snowy crusts. If you’re never had them, the best way to describe them would be a combination of chocolate cookie, meets brownie, meets fudge. Crispy and cookie like on the outside, soft and goey on the inside, and with a certain melt in your mouth feel thanks to the confectioners’ sugar. Which surprising doesn’t make them overly sweet. However, I do recommend using good quality dark chocolate or chocolate chips.

And while you may have had chocolate crinkles before, have you ever had chocolate orange crinkles? I’ll be honest, it certainly wasn’t my original intention, but I as I reached for the bottle of vanilla extract my hand stopped at the Grand Marnier. And once that was added, orange zest seemed like a logical next step… As I mixed up the dough the smell was intoxicating, and incredible familiar. It took me a while to realize what it was. Every Christmas my grandmother makes mini Italian pastries, similar to a calzone, but stuffed with a mixture of chick pea paste, chocolate and orange zest. I promise you don’t taste the chickpeas, but they act as a binder for the rest of the ingredients. And while there are no chickpeas in this crinkle recipe, the flavor of the chocolate and orange together is comfortingly familiar.